Using the capabilities of the Web Parts control set, it is possible to create a connection between two WebPart or other server controls, with one control acting as the provider, and the other acting as the consumer of data. To form a connection, the two controls must reside in a zone that inherits from the WebPartZoneBase class (such as the WebPartZone control), and they must be designed correctly to share data through a common interface. For details about Web Parts connections, see WebPartConnection and Web Parts Connections Overview.

Developers can create custom event handler methods for the WebPartsConnected and WebPartsDisconnected events, and in those methods, they can use the WebPartConnectionsEventArgs class to access details of a connection. For example, a developer can declare the OnWebPartsConnected attribute on the <asp:webpartmanager> element, and assign to it a custom method name that will handle the event. In the custom handler method, developers can access the details of a connection by using the WebPartConnectionsEventArgs object that is passed to the method as a parameter.